As others have noted, creating a new lifestyle brand seems a bit out of sorts considering the brands Hyatt already has in their portfolio. I’m guessing that market research showed them there was a segment that wasn’t addressed.

On the flip side, it may be that there’s a larger group of folks out there that aren’t looking to align with a chain specifically but are looking for innovation from their next hotel.

While I think there’s absolutely a cost to developing and maintaining a new brand, it’s certainly cheaper than trying to rebrand existing properties. In this case, it seems they’re doing a bit of both. I was reading One Mile At a Time’s thoughts on the Centric brand, where he noted that some of the concept pictures looked familiar. As soon as he mentioned the Hyatt Herald Square, I remembered that picture from my visit.

That being said, there are some pictures that do look conceptual, so I’m hoping that there are a few newbies slated. Some of the cities mentioned could definitely use more Hyatts.

On a smaller note, Hyatt also announced the development of their first Andaz hotel in Canada, to open in Ottawa next year. Vancouver (and, to a lesser degree, Toronto) strike me as more of a natural fit than Ottawa. But, there hasn’t been a ton of Hyatt development planned for North of the body, so this is another good pin for the map.

I would have liked to see Hyatt take over the Delta hotels brand in Canada versus Marriott, but those are the breaks. I stayed at a very nice Delta Pinnacle in Vancouver a long time ago that ultimately got re-branded as a Marriott. It felt a lot more like a Hyatt Olive 8 type property than a Marriott.

This small announcement reminds me of a day a few years ago during one of the StarMegaDO events that culminated in Denver. Jeff Zidell, Senior Vice President of Hyatt Gold Passport, was addressing the audience about a bunch of upcoming Hyatt properties. He was asked a question early on from a Canadian attendee (Ryan, pretty sure that was you) if there were more Hyatt properties coming to Canada anytime soon. The unfortunate answer was no, but the result of that was an inside joke about Hyatt in Canada, where Jeff started to get this same question over and over from random people in the audience.

The answer is now yes, in a small way.

I’ll be interested to see Centric come off the drawing board and eager to stay at the first new hotel that opens under that flag.

You May Also Enjoy

Share this Post

About the Author

My goal in life is to fill my family’s passports with stamps, creating buckets of memories along the way. You’ll find me writing about realistic ways for normal people to travel the world, whether you’re on a budget or enjoy luxury. I also enjoy taking us on the occasional detour to explore the inner workings of the travel industry.

5 Comments

As one of those who has echoed the “why not more Hyatts in Canada” statement through the years, I too am excited about the Andaz coming to Ottawa. Downtown Ottawa is a weird hotel market, well as is Canada in general, and the ByWard market area where the Andaz will be located, fits in so well with that brand. It’s just a couple of blocks from downtown proper, the parliament buildings and everything there is to see in Ottawa. The market area is home to a number of fantastic restaurants and pubs that are quirky, in the same way that the Andaz brand tries to be.

I think it’s a great fit for Ottawa and Hyatt, and can’t wait to give it a try!

So, this appears to be their answer to Starwood’s Aloft, Hilton’s Canopy, and Marriott’s Moxy, and (soon to be) IHG’s Kimpton? In another words, Andaz-lite/casual luxury. One of the lobby and bathroom photos were directly lifted from Andaz’s (looks like Napa, but different color scheme – perhaps Atlanta?), and the “sports bar” photo is from Hyatt Fisherman’s Wharf in SF.

Looking at the list of cities, perhaps they are rebranding some of the non-regency Hyatt’s.

Each week, we cover some of the most interesting stories on BoardingArea of the week on the NowBoarding podcast. This week, we covered five stories that should help you get the most out of your travel. Alaska Airlines Newest Partner Alaska Airlines has added El Al Airlines as a partner. Details are still a bit thin on what award redemptions will look like, but more ways to redeem our miles is generally better. Hyatt’s New Partnership with American Airlines The partnership between Hyatt and American Airlines has launched. Members in […]

Resort fees are uniformly hated by customers. They don’t bother me as much as some other folks. However, a recent announcement by Booking.com does bother me. The online travel agency is poised to make more money when you book a hotel with a resort fee. And, that’s not good for consumers in any way, shape or form.

April marks the fourth month in a row where I’ve kept track of the Wi-Fi reliability on all of my flights. With over 40 flights in the books, we have enough of a sample size to start making some reasonable conclusions.

Those low-cost carriers always have very appetizing fare sales. Who wouldn’t want to pay $20 to fly somewhere? But, what does $20 really buy you? I found out exactly what Frontier does (and doesn’t) offer customers on my first flight with them recently.

People talk about how bad the traffic is in places like Los Angeles with plenty of adjectives. And, it is quite bad. But, the traffic in DC is what I refer to as “stealthy bad”. It doesn’t get the same press that LA traffic does, but a trip that normally takes an hour can easily turn into a 3-hour ordeal. With visiting dignitaries, protests and construction as variables, weather can also wreak havoc on a system that consistently backs up during rush hour. For those of us that live in […]

As travel has gotten more stressful the benefits of elite status are even more valuable. In some cases, what used to be free for everyone is now only free for those customers that fly most frequently. I value my American Airlines Executive Platinum status more highly than any status I’ve earned, including 1K service with United Airlines. However, Global Services is another matter. For those not aware, Global Services is an invitation-only status level that United bestows on their best customers. What defines a best customer? Well, United doesn’t list […]

I have to admit, I was pretty pleased with the original announcement that American Airlines was creating bundled pricing that included change fees at a lower apparent cost. Things got a little better when American also announced they were expanding the timeframe you could request a same day change to your flight. And, then things started to get a bit screwy. It started with just one flight I couldn’t get to price right with Choice Plus as an add-on. But, then I did a bit more digging and found out […]

Venture Beat doesn’t think so, and I’m not 100% sure they’re wrong. But, before I discuss the article, a little background on why someone allergic to social media like me became a Foursquare nut. A few years ago, a company called TopGuest came up with this concept where you could earn airline miles and hotel points for checking in at various places on Foursquare. I can’t say I thought it was a terribly good business model, but they convinced a bunch of hotel chains to hand out miles for this. […]